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Nursing assistant practitioner
How to become a nursing support worker
You can become a nursing support worker through a Modern Apprenticeship or by applying for a vacancy on our recruitment website.
What is a nursing support worker?
Nursing support workers assist registered nurses in delivering a high standard of care and treatment to patients. They also provide support to patients' families and carers.
You’ll find nursing support workers in primary, community, and acute care services across the NHS. They may work with specific patient groups or in a particular department, including:
- children’s services
- oncology care
- cardiac rehabilitation
- neurological rehabilitation
- orthopaedics
- critical care, intensive care unit (ICU), and high dependency unit (HDU)
- emergency department
- ambulatory care
- surgical admission
- mental health, learning disabilities, and recovery services
- paediatric complex care
- dementia care
Supervised by a registered nurse, they can work in a range of settings, such as:
- hospital wards
- GP practices
- health centres
- treatment centres
- mental health settings
- the community
- prisons
Depending on the setting in which they work, nursing support workers can help patients with the following:
- personal care
- taking medications
- routine social and physical activities
- mobility
- mealtimes
They are vital in providing person-centred, safe, and effective care within the wider nursing team.
Starting your career as a nursing support worker
Choosing subjects at school
To become a nursing support worker, you'll need a good standard of education. Useful school subjects include:
- Biology
- English
- Maths
Speak to your guidance teacher or careers adviser about subjects offered at your school.
Work placements and volunteering
You may find it helpful to get some healthcare experience by doing a work placement or volunteering. You’ll get training, increase your knowledge, and learn new skills. This could help you when applying for a new job with NHSScotland.
Modern Apprenticeships
A Modern Apprenticeship will help you get the knowledge, skills, and experience you need to reach your career goal.
All Healthcare Support Modern Apprentices study 3 mandatory units:
- Communicate effectively in a healthcare environment
- Make sure your own actions reduce risks to health and safety
- Develop your own knowledge and practice
You'll choose your remaining units from the clinical pathway options for nursing.
Get to know the role
As a nursing support worker, you’ll provide a high level of care that reflects what matters to patients as individuals. You’ll work in a team with healthcare support workers, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
Good communication skills are essential for this role and throughout the patient care pathway to make sure patients’ needs are met. You’ll also communicate with families and carers so that they feel supported and receive the information they require.
Your role's requirements will depend on your place of work. You could work in hospitals, mental health settings, the community, or prisons.
Hospital wards
On a hospital ward, you’ll start your shift with a handover and safety brief, which includes updates on:
- patients’ conditions so their care needs can be met
- information about new patients admitted to the ward
- routine tasks that need to be done during your shift
You’ll monitor patients’ health and wellbeing and update their records. You could help patients with the following:
- personal care
- eating and drinking
- moving around to aid recovery
- going off ward for tests
You’ll also change bed linen and help keep the ward clean and tidy by following health and safety and infection prevention and control procedures.
Mental health settings
In mental health settings, you’ll prioritise building relationships with people experiencing mental ill health using a person-centred and trauma-informed approach. In this role, you’ll work with mental health nurses and other healthcare support workers to:
- implement and evaluate care plans
- participate in clinical supervision sessions
- provide emotional and practical support to patients and promote recovery
- help to de-escalate crisis behaviour
- support patients to take their medica
You could also involve patients in diversionary activities, such as listening to music, going on community outings, or participating in art therapy.
In the community
You could visit people at home, help give medications, assist with moving and handling, change wound dressings, and provide emotional support.
In a GP practice, you could do the following:
- perform basic health checks
- take blood pressure
- take blood samples
- sterilise equipment
- restock consultation rooms
You could also engage in health promotion activities to help and empower people to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Prisons
You’ll start with a handover briefing at work to help you care for people safely during your shift. You may then assist with medication rounds and interact with patients to assess their mental health. You’ll report any concerns to a registered mental health nurse in the team.
Some patients may experience stress and anxiety. You’ll help them by using grounding techniques to reduce distress and encourage them to focus on the present moment.
You can apply for nursing support worker vacancies on our recruitment website.
You'll need these skills:
- caring
- empathy
- focusing
- communicating
- motivating and working with others
- building relationships
- collaborating
You could work with:
- nurses
- nursing assistant practitioners
- carers
- arts therapists
- occupational therapists
- speech and language therapists
- physiotherapists
- psychiatrists
- psychologists
- hospital doctors
- GPs
- porters
- ward clerks
- social workers
You could work in:
- hospitals
- GP practices
- health centres
- mental health units
- people’s homes
- prisons
Learning and development
When joining the NHS, you'll work through the Mandatory Induction Standards. These standards are designed to help you work safely and must be completed within 3 to 6 months of employment. They will also support you in your first steps as a new healthcare support worker.
Find out about the Mandatory Induction Standards for new healthcare support workers.
In your role, you must also complete work-based training to comply with healthcare delivery procedures and protocols. This could include:
- infection control
- risk management
- patient confidentiality
- child protection
- health and safety
Your career development will be planned and reviewed with your manager annually through the Personal Development Planning (PDP) cycle.
Learn more about preparing for your personal development review.
Career progression
While working in the NHS, you’ll have access to learning and development opportunities to help you progress in your career. This could mean taking on more responsibilities or moving to a higher-level role, such as:
- senior nursing support worker
- nursing assistant practitioner
Getting experience as a healthcare support worker can be helpful if you decide you want to go to university and study to become a registered nurse.
You’ll find learning tools and information about support, funding, and resources on Support Worker Central.
Existing staff can complete one of the following qualifications to gain entry to an undergraduate Nursing degree programme:
- HNC Healthcare Practice at SCQF level 7
- Certificate of Higher Education in Healthcare Practice at SCQF level 7
Search for college courses and university programmes on My World of Work.
Open University undergraduate nursing degree programme
The Open University degree route is available to healthcare support workers who want to become registered nurses. No formal entry qualifications are required, but you must remain employed in your existing post while studying.
Find out about nursing and healthcare courses on the Open University website.
Professional bodies
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the world's largest nursing trade union and professional body. Find out more about the RCN.
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Help with recruitment
We'll guide you through the recruitment process, from applying online to interview preparation.
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